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Winter in Brisbane

After a fantastic 13 week holiday, Colin and I landed in Brisbane on July 8th to start our new life. The last three weeks have been a whirlwind as we’ve sorted out our own transport, opened bank accounts, applied for jobs, and generally started settling in. We now have Tax File Numbers and Medicare cards, we’ve figured out that Aldi is the place to go for grocery bargains, and we’re the proud owners of a GPS and a 1997 Toyota Corolla (ahem…Colin is still dealing with that one). Jobs and accommodation aren’t sorted yet, but there are several promising options in the pipeline. Meanwhile we’re enjoying staying at the lively Lord-West house, figuring out where we’d like to live, and starting to work off our banana pancake-bellies (well, Colin is, I’m still working up to that one).

Asia feels like a world away (which it both was, and wasn’t) and we cannot deny that we miss our travels. But landing in Brisbane has so far been an adventure of a different kind; it’s no longer the free-floating indulgence of a long holiday, but redolent with exciting possibilities nonetheless. As we expected, Australia is very similar to New Zealand, but different in endless ways. Our first few days felt a bit strange, but since then, our sense of familiarity has grown daily. The clothes and other things we shipped over from New Zealand are still in bonded storage, so we continue to live out of our backpacks. But, Colin bought a giant TV (talk about priorities…!), and I’ve started to cook again, and these things make us feel a little less nomadic.

Every day we’ve been busy preparing job applications and running errands, but we’ve also taken the time to explore a bit. As you’ll see in the photos, Brisbane in the winter is sunny and mild. It was cold at night for the first few days we were here, and we have had a couple of overcast days, but in the main, we’ve had nothing but blue skies and sunshine. It is such a novelty to walk around wearing jandals and singlets, have BBQ’s outside, and for laundry to dry on the line within a few hours. My tan might be fading by the second, but I can feel bikini days just around the corner. I think I can handle this.